How to Avoid Common Writing Scams on the Internet

Writing scams is something that new writers need to watch out for. Just as with anything that is a big paying industry, scammers will find a way to exploit it. When I first started writing, I was barely making $20 a day! This was due to all the tire kickers and scammers on the web who posed as legit clients that were interested in my freelance writing services. I will show you the common writing scams on the Internet right now and how you should avoid them so you can start getting paid to write articles online.

Forum Scam- Forums started off as being a legit and friendly place for new writers to advertise their writing services or products for free. Now, scammers have breeded on this playground and are now trapping unexpecting victims into their web of deceit. One example of this would be Digital Point Forum. I was scammed so many times here; before I got a clue and went to another forum.

Basically, a fraud will set up multiple accounts at the same forum and give themselves positive reviews. This is so the writer will trust them. They then say they need articles written. When you reply to them, they give you the amount they will pay you. After you write the article, you never hear from them again. To avoid this, make sure to get payment upfront. If the member is unable to accept this, move on.

Writing Sample Scam- This is the oldest trick in the book. Basically, a scammer will set up an ad on a free classified site such as Craigslist. They ask for writing services.

When you email the writer, they ask if you could write a writing sample so they can see your "writing style". In other words, they want a free article out of you. It is amazing what people will go through just to get a free article.

Instead of writing the article themselves or paying $5, they would rather scam someone. It is kind of pathetic when you think about it. To avoid this, make sure to make a writing portfolio. Make sure that your writing is published online somewhere in order to stop others from stealing your content. If it is already published on the Internet, it would be useless to copy/paste the same content into another website because Google will just delete because of their strict rules on duplicate content

Erica Williams is the owner of the 'Self Employment Money Now' blog and offers free resources on how to make money online. For the ultimate writing guide, please visit Getting Paid To Write Online- Make $1000 a Day